Two Beers and a Pretzel

So a month ago I packed a fair majority of my stuff into a 16′ Penske truck and hit the road with 10 days to get to LA.

With those fairly lose restrictions, I followed a slightly unconventional route.  I started by driving to my sister’s place in Tennessee for a visit with the nieces and nephew.  I swung back up through Kansas and finally saw Junction City (where I was born), and got a photo of my parents old apartment, which is now a bank.

Then it was off to Colorado to visit the 4th cousins, my friend Meghan (who I met in New Zealand), and my good friend Andrea from my days at UC.  Andrea loaned me her Jeep, so I got to drive out and see my cousins and watch Meghan perform in Guys & Dolls.  I also went to the Denver Aquarium and the monster REI store.

Leaving Denver, a tanker truck wrecked on I-70 just before Vail Pass, so I was stuck waiting for a few hours.  The scenery was nice, but it did get old after a while.

Eventually they let us turn around and go back East.  I found a back route that was quite scenic, but the delay sucked enough time out of my day that I was not able make it to Arches National Park as planned.

I made it to LA 2 days later and moved into the 1 bedroom apartment with my cousin Asa, his girlfriend Bekah, her guitarist Brian, a toy Yorkie “Emma”, and Asa’s cat, Moses.  Biggest lesson = make sure your moving truck has cruise control.  Mine didn’t.

After getting my stuff into a storage locker, we all started looking for a 3 bedroom house, but after a few weeks, Brian and I ended up getting a really nice 2 bedroom apartment in Simi Valley (with a real garage) and letting Asa & Bekah stay in the old place in Burbank.  While we were moving out, I think the animals were mad, because Emma would not stop barking until we put her in the microwave.

Then in retaliation, Moses decided to puke on Brian’s shirts:

Gross, eh?

In the meantime, Bekah’s brother came to visit from Richmond and we went with him and his new girlfriend / soon to be wife to Knott’s Berry Farm Amusement Park.  Pretty fun, and it’s owned by Cedar Fair, so there’s an Ohio connection.

We also got to visit the original Bat Cave (TV series) because Asa got a part in a movie that is filming there.

So here’s the view from my apartment (sorry – as taken by a camera phone).  Simi Valley is quite a bit nicer than San Fernando or L.A.  The other side of those hills is Malibu, so I’m only 45 minutes from the beach.

And at night.

I couldn’t part with my home theater equipment, so our living room is pretty much centered around the 100″ screen.  So far no one has complained about the subwoofer, but we usually remember to turn it down around 10 PM.  And the person above us, who we’ve nicknamed “Godzilla”, either is hiding an elephant up there, or has a very unique way of walking around.  It’s not annoying, just funny.  We almost went up there one time to see if someone was in trouble and needed help.  The only bummer is that we could only fit 3 of the 4 theater seats in the couch, but they still have the built in subwoofers, so it totally rocks…

We finished the apartment just in time for Meghan to visit.  She stayed for 2 days and we had a blast hanging out and cooking Thai food.  Then we dropped her off with another friend at a Vineyard about 2 hours North on the way to San Louis.

Now that I’m settled in and finally have high speed internet, I can catch up on everything and start planning for the future.  I hope to take a trip back to Ohio in July to see family, and go fishing.  Then, I want to take a trip to Istanbul with my buddy Musti to lean Turkish Folk music and how to play the “Oud” from his dad and, if Meghan comes along, get her into some belly dancing lessons…

That should catch everybody up.  I’ll probably get a weekend camping trip in to the Channel Islands soon, or possibly go back up to Sequoia for bit of hiking.  My biggest regret of the 2007 trip to Cali was not having my car for some of these fun roads.  Now I have it here!!!

So I’ve been in LA for almost a week now.  I’m staying with my cousin Asa and his roommate Brian.  Brian just happens to be the guitarist and backup vocalist for Rebekah White – Asa’s girlfriend.  In the apartment we have 12 guitars, a mandolin, a bass, a gut-bucket bass, a keyboard, various drums, a bunch of amplifiers, and I brought the sitar with me.  It’s quite the place for music making.

On Friday, Rebekah and Brian had a concert at the Cabanna Club in Hollywood, and Asa was playing with the Conley’s – the closing band of the night.  I got to record the video and audio, as well as run around looking like an official photographer.  It was pretty fun, but I need to work on my event photography skills – especially using my flash unit and figuring out how to focus the lens quickly in a dark room.  But I got a fair number of good shots…

Asa drumming for the Conley’s – I just thought this was a cool shot…

Rebekah and Brian in mid set…  There were a few other good shots of them, but this was by far the best one…

Asa on Mandolin and Harmonica with a nice background blur effect (I love the large aperture lenses)

The LA Skyline…

On Saturday and Sunday, we all went to the NAMM show next to Disneyland in Anaheim.  I couldn’t actually get in because there was a problem getting me a pass, but I would have just been following Rebekah around to all the people she needed to see anyway, so no big deal…  and there was plenty to do outside the main show.  I attended a vendor exhibit on how you can add your own songs (with the animations and game play jems) to the ROCKBAND video game online store, and earn a percentage of money when people buy your songs.  Currently, bands pay around $1500 to consulting companies to add a single song to the game store.  Ouch.

I was thinking of photoshopping this pic to say NO BABIES – Leave them in your car, please.

Odd how I read an article by the NAMM chairman about how he used to sneak into shows 10 years ago.  Security was pretty tight, and they were checking ID’s everywhere.  I guess he doesn’t want anyone pulling his old tricks…

But, there were a lot of outdoor concerts and freak-show watching (mostly people dressed like 80′s punk and metal bands), so I stayed plenty busy.

This week Rebekah has to be in San Francisco for a work conference and a photo shoot, so us boys will be hanging out and jamming.  I want to figure out my sitar versions of ‘The Devil Went Down to Punjab’, the ‘Led Zeppelin Medley Raga’, and what will probably be a futile attempt at slide blues on a sitar…  If any of them turn out well, I’ll post an MP3 on the blog.  I’m sure everyone is holding their breath in anticipation.

Oh yeah, and Asa and will I refine the pitch for our little side project…

With a break in the weather on Sunday, I drove to my Sister’s place in Tennessee.  Then Monday I left for L.A.  I made it to Albuquerque before I was to tired to go on.  Then on Tuesday I amended one of the missing landmarks from my Route 66 trip and stopped by Petrified Forest National Park.

First you hit the badlands of the painted desert

Some of the wood was not completely petrified.  The cell walls have turned to rock, but the inside did not absorb any other silica compounds, so it still looks like wood, but it’s really rock.

Versus wood that is totally petrified.

I also got a better picture from Winslow, AZ.

Going farther West, I saw a great sunset in Arizona.

I made it to Asa’s place in Burbank around 10:30PM and unpacked my sitar.  It’s going to be an interesting month…  I’m probably going to work by taking head-shots for actors and actresses – since it’s the new pilot season, and they all need updated shots.

Oddly, ‘Going Home’ is the name of one of my favorite movement’s of Dvorak’s New World Symphony (no 9).

Ingrid’s work Christmas party (including a fancy, expendive dinner) was Monday evening.  I tried to meet up with Mandy, but the trains were still basically at a standstill with more snow falling…  so I stayed at Ingrid’s place, played guitar and watched movies all night.  Around 4AM I had figured she’d passed out and was staying with one of her co-workers, so I went to sleep.  A very short while later, she woke me up for an after party with her boss.  The boss had decided to let everyone come in after lunch on Tuesday, so it must have been a no holds barred night of partying.  They were all quite inebriated and demanded that I play guitar.  It was actually quite fun, but the kitchen was a complete mess the next day.

I just chilled out all day Tuesday, thinking I would leave after dinner for a hotel near the airport.  That plan changed when I saw the prices of hotels over there – $150 a night…  So I decided to stay one more night and just get up really early to be sure I didn’t miss the plane, even if the trains were screwed up.  So that icy, slippery night Ingrid took me out for a going away dinner at a nice little place her family frequents.  They had some very good steak…

I was also recruited to help Ingrid move an old couch down the stairs.  We couldn’t make it fit, so I had some fun making a few very slight modifications to the couch…

Then I had to get to bed around 10PM because I was waking up at 3:30 AM.

Early and still dark, I said goodbye to Ingrid at 4:00 and walked to the train station to catch the 4:30 stoptrain to Rotterdam Central.  Then I had to wait half an hour for the intercity to the airport.  I arrived at the airport at 6 AM, and found the Burger King still open, so in contrast to the great dinner the night before, I had a fast food breakfast.

Then I saw the oddest thing that I never expected to see in the Amsterdam airport…

And that was not about Chris Henry, but the Bengal’s surprisingly good season.

It was just after 6:30 AM, and I had 5 hours before boarding began for my flight, so I bought a pretty good book Vulcan 607 – about the British long range (8000 mile) bomber attack on the Falkland Islands in 1982.  I got into it, then on the plane and kept reading for the 8 hour flight to Chicago.

Once in Chicago, I got the 9th degree from immigration and homeland security.

Them:  Where have you been?

Me:  Holland and Belgium.

Them:  Why were you there?

Me:  Vacation and visiting a friend.

Them:  Where did you stay?

Me:  Her apartment in Dordrecht.

Them:  Is your friend American?

Me:  Nope – a smoking hot Dutch girl.  Wanna see a picture?

After a grimacing look from the agent, I realized I was being a bit too casual, but figured I’d roll with it since I had 6 hours and nothing to do.

Them:  Have you brought any plants or seeds back?

Me:  Oh, you mean weed?  Come on man, how dumb do you think I am?

Another mean look.

Them:  When was the last time you left America?

Me:  Well, I just got back in July.

Them: From where?

Me:  Well, almost everywhere.

Them:  Where specifically?

Me:  You may have noticed that my passport is completely full; but if you want the list…  Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Chile, Peru, New Zealand, Australia, Malasia, Thailand, Cambodia, India, U.A.E., and then back home.  Then I drove Route 66, went to Europe for 3 weeks, and now I’m here.

Them:  And why did you do that?

Me:  I chose to sit out the recession.

Them:  What do you do for a living?

Me:  Nothing – I quit work 14 months ago – thus sitting out the recession.

I realized that they really have trouble figuring out someone who is relaxed, more honest than necessary, and doesn’t care if he gets searched, so that’s where they sent me next.  They opened everything and sent me thru the x-ray.  The guy did a thorough job, but completely wrecked my packing.  At least this guy was a bit nicer.  He asked what I did to tick off the agent.  I told him that I apparently didn’t look scared enough and had a full passport – which is very odd for an American.  After unpacking my stuff, searching between book pages, opening gift wrapped items, etc… he told me to gather it up and move along.  I told him that unless he wanted to help me repack, I preferred to stay at his table and put everything back where it belongs.  He was nice enough to let me – probably because some lady at the next table was throwing a complete hissy fit about being searched and that agent needed assistance.

Once thru customs, I discovered my flight to Cincinnati had been cancelled.  Luckilly, another commuter flight was 3 hours late and had room, so I switched to standby and got on that flight.  Oddly, that got me home 3 hours earlier than planned.  I finished the book on the short flight to Cincy.  The nice surprize was that my checked luggage made it even after the change in flights; especially since the last time my luggage went thru O’Hare (5 years ago) $1000 of stuff was stolen and a nice bag was ruined.  I got lucky, because the next available flight was 1:30 PM the next day…

I got home and my buddy Bill picked me up and got me to my truck.  I was going to get him a big bottle of booze, but it’s darn expensive in Europe…  so I’ll probably get him a bottle of Scotch from he Party Source next week.

When I finally got home, my camera was still on Holland time –  4:30 AM.  I’d been awake and travelling for 25 hours.  I went straight to bed.  …Only to wake up and drive to Jackson, Tennessee to spend Christmas with my parents, sister & bro-in-law, and most importantly, my twin neices and one month old nephew!  It even snowed a little here, so we got a White Christmas!!

It’s nice to be back.  I’ll miss the fun I had with Ingrid, and I owe her a huge thanks for letting me crash at her place – especially since it would otherwise have been about $40/night or more… but next time I go to Europe it will not be winter (unless I go skiing).

And now, a Christmas treat for everyone:

…a picture my friend Tabitha sent on Facebook of skinny me, 20 years ago at a high school band concert.

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

So Friday was another fun dinner with Ingrid’s parents and friends at their favorite bar.

At some point ingrid and I got into a fight

I clearly won.  She claims that I threw the snowball from point blank range, but I swear I was at least 2 meters away and simply used the old fake throw followed by a real throw and got her on the way back up from a flinch.  Actually, she got me pretty good in the face too…

Then it was driving in the snow back to Dordrecht to catch the train to Amsterdam.  Even with the hyper efficient train system here, it took us about 2 hours to make the trip because of delays and cancelled trains.  When we finally got there, we got our room and stashed our bags before heading out to the nearest bar.  It happened to be an Irish pub with a very happy bartender who gave us ‘Hot Whiskey’ (Irish whiskey, hot water, sugar, lemon wedge, and cloves).  It warmed us up quick, but we had to leave when a very strange Norwegian guy would not stop talking to us at the bar and kept asking very odd questions.  Luckilly, one of Ingrid’s friends called, so we had a destination.

As for the destination, dance clubs in Amsterdam play the same crappy R&B mix music as American clubs, except that in American clubs they occasionnaly mix in something good like Johnny Cash or the Beatles, or Rolling Stones.  In this club, it was a non-stop deluge of crappy dance music.  Now also imagine a crowded club.  Multiply that by 5.  And another 2x for good measure.

Ingrid’s friend and his friends left with us to go to another place closer to our hotel called Bubbles.  Same story, different bar.  Eventually (like 5 AM) I started feeling sick and left.  I got to the hotel, but could not fall alseep.  No heat in the room, fire alarms, and a general queesy feeling.  I bit the bullet and just got up around 9 to find a pharmacy and get some breakfast.

 They have BIG pancakes here…  probably because this pancake house was next to a Coffie Shop (hash bar) and they get a lot of people coming in with the munchies.

When I got  back to the hotel, Ingrid was getting ready to go shopping and go out for breakfast herself.  I took a nice 2 hour nap.  When she got back, we headed to the Ryksmuseum and saw a lot of cool paintings, but the clear highlight was Rembrandt’s Night Watch.  WOW.  If you’ve never seen any of Rembrandt’s work in person, it’s amazing.  Photos do not do it justice.  It’s hard to explain, but he adds textures and 3D elements like no one else… then top it with his dramatic use of light and you can see why he was a true master.

After the museum, we headed out for dinner before meeting my surfing buddy Linda at BOOM-Chicago for a comedy improv show.  In a long standing family tradition, they asked for a name when I bought out ticket’s so I used the name ‘Fuzzy Bunny’ – and the staff got a kick out of it.  That show has been running for 10 years, and it put on by an American cast.  This one was a compare and contrast between America and the Netherlands.  Very funny.

Then Ingrid, Linda and I went back to the Bubbles bar, but this time we were the first ones there.

It was much more fun, possibly because we left just after it got really crowded at around 2 AM.  Again, the room was freezing, again there was a fire alarm – so when we checked out, I complained.  They could/would not refund me anything since I pre-paid on Expedia… but they did give us both free breakfast (valued at about $18 each – worth about $5).

Then we walked thru the Vondelpark in the fresh snow and checked out Dam square.

A little while later we got to the train station…  just in time to find out that all rail traffic in Holland has been suspended due to bad weather.  OK, seriously, Dutch people – it was 3 inches of snow, your country is FLAT, and we’re talking about big TRAINS here…  This should not be a problem.  This reputedly efficint and well kept rail system is really getting on my nerves. 

So, in the spirit of adventure, Ingrid and I decided to hitchhike home.  Around the back of the train station, we started thumbing for rides and immediately got a delivery truck to take us to some small train station outside of town, but very near a busy freeway on-ramp heading South.

Then we got a ride in a really screwed up little delivery truck with two strange ladies that ended up taking us North instead of South. 

They dropped us at a freeway intersection in the middle of nowhere… when we were luckilly picked up by a nice lady in a Mini Cooper who took us back to the small train station.  This time we decided to create a sign saying where we were heading.  We also met Sabine, another stranded rail passenger.

We found a nice guy in an SUV that took the three of us all the way to Rotterdam (where I snapped a nice pic of the skyline at night).

There, Ingrid an I found a convenience store cleck who gave us free soup, and found yet another delivery truck to take us to her apartment…  and he dropped us right at the door!

So what should have been a 45 minute train ride became a 6 hour hitchhiking adventure in Holland, in the middle of winter.